CRST looking to join downtown Cedar Rapids skyline

CEDAR RAPIDS - The city's downtown skyline is poised to greet its first new office tower since the GreatAmerica Building went up in 1998.

John Smith, board chairman of trucking firm CRST International and president of Cedar Rapids Real Estate Group LLP, has told the city of Cedar Rapids he wants to compete to buy the city-owned riverfront lot between Second and Third avenues SE and across the street from the Alliant Tower where the city's First Street Parkade was until it was demolished in 2011.

“I really have become over the years more and more convinced that we need to put more emphasis in the core city and get that built up,” Smith said Saturday. “And I think this will give it a little bit more buzz if we're successful doing this building.”

Smith, who retired as president/CEO of CRST International in 2010, has written the city that he and his wife, Dyan, and their real estate entity want to build a “significant downtown office project” that would house the Cedar Rapids trucking firm's corporate headquarters plus provide leased space for other companies.

In the letter, Smith states that his expectation is to build a $20 million, “signature-quality, Class A” structure that would provide between 75,000 and 100,000 square feet of office space.

In addition, he states that the building could contain lower-level parking for 200 to 350 vehicles in up to an additional 90,000 square feet of space. The proposed building also would be designed to fit into the city's flood wall protection system.

“We plan on creating a building of lasting importance to the city, and this site is perfect for that endeavor,” Smith writes.

On Saturday, Smith joked that Tom Aller, president of Alliant Energy's Interstate Power and Light Co. and part of long-standing downtown development group, “has been on my case for 25 years to come downtown.”

“And it just seemed like a good time to think about it,” Smith said. “I think it would be good for the city. I just seems like the right thingto do.”

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said Smith approached him about the idea of building a new downtown office building several months ago. Pomeranz said he stayed in touch with and encouraged CRST International and its representatives to move ahead on the project, he said.

“We have a local company - one of our most successful local companies - that wants to develop a corporate headquarters on that site,” Pomeranz said. “It is truly exciting to see that kind of commitment of jobs and financial investment in our city.

“We think it's going to be a signature building, meaning it's going to be a very attractive addition to the downtown skyline.”

Pomeranz said the building may stand eight to 10 stories tall, depending on how many levels of parking it features.

City Council member Scott Olson said Smith has suggested to city leaders that his proposed office building will be of a similar height to the GreatAmerica Building on the city's riverfront at 625 First St. SE. The temporary surface parking lot, which opened in late 2011 on the proposed CRST building site, always was intended to give way to “a higher and better use” such as an office building, Olson said.

The City Council on Tuesday will set a public hearing for May 14 to initiate the city's property-disposition process for the site.

In his letter this month to City Hall, Smith said his interest in building a downtown office building for CRST's headquarters was being driven by two forces - CRST's need for more office space and the downtown's ongoing effort to recover from the June 2008 flood.

Smith's commitment to the city's flood recovery has been noticed before.

In July 2009, he and his wife donated $1 million as seed money to the Block by Block neighborhood-rebuilding initiative, a joint flood-recovery effort. Block by Block renovated 270 homes in 25 flood-hit city blocks and leveraged the Smith's donation to raise a total of $7 million in private and public funds for the work, said Clint Twedt-Ball, co-executive director of Matthew 25.

Subsequently, the Smiths also donated $100,000 to the city's post-flood riverfront amphitheater project - which doubles as entertainment venue and a flood levee - to help the project get close to its private fundraising target.

Pomeranz and Olson emphasized that the Smith proposal will have to compete against any others that might come forward for the riverfront site, which Pomeranz called “a very important piece of undeveloped property in downtown Cedar Rapids.”

“This property is not promised to any one company,” Pomeranz said.

Under the city's proposed timeline for the sale of the property, proposals would need to be submitted to the city by June 17.

A city evaluation team will make a recommendation to the City Council for its consideration June 25.

Smith said he would like to break ground this fall if his proposal moves forward.

Olson noted downtown employees now using the existing surface lot will have to scramble a little to find parking if and once construction starts.

Olson, a Realtor for Skogman Commercial, said a similar effort is under way to convert a newly vacant lot next to the Paramount Theatre into a temporary parking lot for about half the vehicles that now park at the proposed Smith project.

Pomeranz and Olson said the parking levels under the proposed Smith building could include some for the building's use and some for general city use.

Olson said some downtown employers might be willing to sign commitments to use some of the spaces.

Cedar Rapids' downtown has seen two other new private-sector buildings go up since the 2008 flood.

In terms of recent skyline-changing buildings, the GreatAmerica Building was built in 1998 and the Town Centre building, at 223 Third Ave. SE, was built in 1991, according to the city assessor's website.

Mayor Ron Corbett, who is employed at CRST to work on special projects, on Friday referred any comments on Smith's building proposal to the city manager, saying he had distanced himself from any involvement in the project to avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest.

In January, CRST received an economic-development incentive from the City Council to support what the company said will be a $3 million investment to expand its training facility at 3930 16th Ave. SW.